William Shakespeare: A Biography

518 Pages·1963·57.22 MB·English

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Books by A. L. Rowse
RALEGH AND THE THROCKMORTONS
THE ENGLAND OF EUZABETH I
THE EXPANSION OF ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND
THE ELIZABETHANS AND AMERICA
Sm RICHARD GRENVILLE OF THE REVENGE
TUDOR CORNWALL
THE EARLY CHURCHILLS
THE LATER CHURCHILLS
THE USE OF HISTORY
THE SPmiT OF ENGLISH HISTORY
THE ENGLISH SPmiT
THE ENGLISH PAST
THE END OF AN EPOCH
ALL SOULS AND APPEASEMENT
POEMS OF A DECADE
POEMS CHIEFLY CORNISH
POEMS OF DELIVERANCE
POEMS PARTLY AMERICAN
A CORNISH CHILDHOOD
WEST COUNTRY STORIES
ST. AUSTELL: CHURCH, TOWN, PARISH
A HISTORY OF FRANCE
By Lucien Romier.
Translated and completed
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE FLO WEI~ I'OHTI{AIT
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
A Biography
BY
A. L. ROWSE
Palgrave Macmillan
!963
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1963
ISBN 978-1-349-00317-4 ISBN 978-1-349-00315-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00315-0
Preface
IT is usual to preface a book on Shakespeare with an apology for
adding to the number, and I had every intention of adhering to the
custom. My hope was, as an historian, to be able to illuminate at
least the history plays, the inspiration and treatment of England's
past, by the most historically minded of dramatists.
But this approach to Shakespeare's life and work, and their rela-
tion to the age, has produced discoveries that have astonished me,
shed light upon problems hitherto intractable, produced results
which might seem incredible, if it were not for the consideration
that this is the first time that an historian of the Elizabethan period
has tackled them.
It stands to reason that someone who has spent a lifetime studying
the period and the social life of Shakespeare's time should have
something to contribute, and for a number of years I have had this
book in mind in my researches. All the same, I am overwhelmed
by what historical investigation, by proper historical method, has
brought to light.
It has enabled me to solve, for the first time, and definitively, the
problem of the Sonnets, which has teased so many generations and
led so many people into a morass of conjecture. The key to the
resolution of their problems, all of which are now cleared up -
except for the identity of Shakespeare's mistress, which we are never
likely to know - has been to follow strict historical method and
establish a firm dating and chronology. This is an indispensable
foundation for the structure of any biography of Shakespeare, and
it is precisely here that an historian has most to offer.
But the establishment of a firm chronology, with a close study
of what was happening at the time, year by year, has resulted in
an unhoped-for enrichment of the contemporary content and
experience that went into a number of the plays, particularly of
the earlier and more obscure period. I have, for the first time, been
able to establish the date and the occasion of A Midsummer-Night's
Dream, with what follows as to the conception of the play. Love's
vii
William Shakespeare
Labour's Lost has hitherto been a play to which the key has been
missing ; a flood of light pours in, when one realises that an im-
portant element of it is a skit on the Southampton circle by an
intimate member of it. The environment of feud and duelling in
Romeo and juliet has its contemporary connotations very close to
this same circle. The relation of The Merchant of Venice to the Lopez
affair is well known. But it is not only with regard to the early
plays that a knowledge of the circumstances and events of Shake-
speare's time has yielded results - the same holds good for such a
problematical play as Troilus and Cressida, or such a political play
as Coriolanus.
The historian is deeply indebted to the work of the literary
scholars - we each have the strengths and the defects of our respec-
tive disciplines: our work is complementary. I am immensely
indebted, as all who tackle the subject must be, to the indispensable
work of Sir Edmund Chambers, most massive (though not the
most perceptive) of Shakespearean scholars, to the expertise and
detective genius of Sir Walter Greg. What giants they were !
But to these I should like to add the name of the admirable anti-
quarian, Edgar Fripp, who added so much to our knowledge of the
Stratford and Warwickshire background, whose love gave him per-
ceptive insights often denied to the more academic, and these much
outweigh the nai'vete of some of his judgments.
My obligations are numerous : first and foremost to the Hunt-
ington Library in California, and to All Souls College, Oxford.
The Huntington Library exemplifies that marriage between history
and literature which I strongly hold by myself, and which can be
so fruitful. Some part of what I owe to the companionship there
I express in my dedication ; but I should like to thank Dr. John E.
Pomfret and Professor Allan Nevins for their constant encourage-
ment and support. I am especially indebted to Professor Richard
Hosley's discriminating judgment and expert scholarship on the
Elizabethan stage.
In England I am grateful to Professor F. P. Wilson for his
Elizabethan conversation over the years, and for so kindly submit-
ting to hear read the crucial chapters on the Sonnets and the
surrounding plays ; and to my old friend John Garrett, for his
invitations year after year to lecture at the Anglo-American summer
conferences at Stratford, from which I much profited, in seeing the
plays, and getting to know that endearing town and countryside
with fair familiarity. All English folk of my generation owe a
viii
Preface
great obligation to our Shakespearean actors, above all to Sir John
Gielgud for his inner understanding of Shakespeare, and to Sir
Laurence Olivier and Dame Edith Evans ; in addition I am indebted
to the perceptive conversation of Robert Speaight.
I am greatly obliged to the Duke of Portland for all the trouble
he took over his portraits of the Earl of Southampton and his
mother, and for so generously having them photographed for me.
And to Mr. Robert Wark, Curator of the Huntington Art Gallery,
for his help over locating these portraits.
A chief obligation over this book is to Professor Jack Simmons
of the University of Leicester, who, amid the pressure of many
duties, found time to read my manuscript. I cannot sufficiently
express what my book owes to his critical acumen, his forceful
judgment, the admirable suggestions of his combined scholarship
and sensibility.
A. L. ROWSE
THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY
SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA
4th December 1962
1X
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
CHAPTER I. ELIZABETHAN WARWICKSHIRE I
II. STRATFORD TOWN 14
III. FAMILY: SCHOOL: CHURCH 30
IV. YouTH AND MARRIAGE 48
v. LONDON: THE ARMADA YEARS 59
VI. APPRENTICESHIP 76
VII. REPUTATION 96
VIII. THE EARLY CoMEDms 121
IX. FRIENDSHIP 138
X. THE STORY OF THE SONNETS 161
XI. RoMANCE AND REALITY 201
XII. ENGLAND's PAsT 233
XIII. THE LATE NINETffiS 276
XIV. BETWEEN Two WoRLDS 316
XV. THE GREAT TRAGEDms 366
XVI. THE RoMANCEs 409
XVII. NEW PLACE 444
NoTES 467
INDEX 479
Xl